USPTO Patents Application 10807488

United States Patent and Trademark Office

/

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS
P.O. Box 1450

Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450
www.uspto.gov

APPLICATION NO.

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.

CONFIRMATION NO.

10/807,488

03/23/2004

Ronald P. Swanson

58696US002

3060

32692 7590 08/08/2007

3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES COMPANY

EXAMINER

PO BOX 33427

ST. PAUL, MN 55133-3427

WOLLSCHLAGER, JEFFREY MICHAEL

ART UNIT

PAPER NUMBER

1732

NOTIFICATION DATE

DELIVERY MODE

08/08/2007

ELECTRONIC

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

The time period for reply, if any, is set in the attached communication.

Notice of the Office communication was sent electronically on above-indicated "Notification Date" to the
following e-mail address(es):

LegalUSDocketing@mmm.com
LegalDocketing@mmm.com

PTOL-90A (Rev. 04/07)

Interview Summary

Application No.

10/807,488

Applicant(s)

SWANSON, RONALD P.

Examiner

Jeff Wollschlager

Art Unit

1732

All participants (applicant, applicant's representative, PTO personnel):

( 1 ) Jeff Wollschlager . (3) .

(2) Nicole Einerson . (4) .

Date of Interview: 27 July 2007 .

Type: a)S Telephonic b)D Video Conference

c)D Personal [copy given to: 1)D applicant 2)D applicant's representative]

Exhibit shown or demonstration conducted: d)D Yes e)S No.

If Yes, brief description: .

Claim(s) discussed: 16-20 .

Identification of prior art discussed: Okubo et al. UP 63-171755) .

Agreement with respect to the claims f)D was reached, g)^ was not reached. h)D N/A.

Substance of Interview including description of the general nature of what was agreed to if an agreement was
reached, or any other comments: Ms. Einerson and Ex. Wollschlager reviewed the content of the May 7, 2007 office
action, specifically discussing the fair teachings and suggestions found in the Okubo et al. reference. The examiner
reiterated his position taken in the May 7, 2007 office action. Ms. Einerson presented a different reading of the
reference and will submit written remarks and/or claim amendments .

(A fuller description, if necessary, and a copy of the amendments which the examiner agreed would render the claims
allowable, if available, must be attached. Also, where no copy of the amendments that would render the claims
allowable is available, a summary thereof must be attached.)

THE FORMAL WRITTEN REPLY TO THE LAST OFFICE ACTION MUST INCLUDE THE SUBSTANCE OF THE
INTERVIEW. (See MPEP Section 713.04). If a reply to the last Office action has already been filed, APPLICANT IS
GIVEN A NON-EXTENDABLE PERIOD OF THE LONGER OF ONE MONTH OR THIRTY DAYS FROM THIS
INTERVIEW DATE, OR THE MAILING DATE OF THIS INTERVIEW SUMMARY FORM, WHICHEVER IS LATER, TO
FILE A STATEMENT OF THE SUBSTANCE OF THE INTERVIEW. See Summary of Record of Interview
requirements on reverse side or on attached sheet.

Examiner Note: You must sign this form unless it is an
Attachment to a signed Office action.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
PTOL-413(Rev. 04-03)

Interview Summary

JL^N* <Z p aper No. 20070727
CHRlSl "W JOHNSON

SUPERVISOR WENT EXAMINER

Summary of Record of Interview Requirements

Manual of Patent Examining Procedure (MPEP), Section 713.04, Substance of Interview Must be Made of Record

A complete written statement as to the substance of any face-to-face, video conference, or telephone interview with regard to an application must be made of record in the
application whether or not an agreement with the examiner was reached at the interview.

Title 37 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 1.133 Interviews

Paragraph (b)

in every instance where reconsideration is requested in view of an interview with an examiner, a complete written statement of the reasons presented at the interview as
warranting favorable action must be filed by the applicant. An interview does not remove the necessity for reply to Office action as specified in §§ 1.1 1 1, 1 .135. (35 U.S.C. 132)

37 CFR §1 .2 Business to be transacted in writing.
Ail business with the Patent or Trademark Office should be transacted in writing. The personal attendance of applicants or their attorneys or agents at the Patent and
Trademark Office is unnecessary. The action of the Patent and Trademark Office will be based exclusively on the written record in the Office. No attention will be paid to
any alleged oral promise, stipulation, or understanding in relation to which there is disagreement or doubt.

The action of the Patent and Trademark Office cannot be based exclusively on the written record in the Office if that record is itself
incomplete through the failure to record the substance of interviews.

It is the responsibility of the applicant or the attorney or agent to make the substance of an interview of record in the application file, unless
the examiner indicates he or she will do so. It is the examiner's responsibility to see that such a record is made and to correct material inaccuracies
which bear directly on the question of patentability.

Examiners must complete an Interview Summary Form for each interview held where a matter of substance has been discussed during the
interview by checking the appropriate boxes and filling in the blanks. Discussions regarding only procedural matters, directed solely to restriction
requirements for which interview recordation is otherwise provided for in Section 812.01 of the Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, or pointing
out typographical errors or unreadable script in Office actions or the like, are excluded from the interview recordation procedures below. Where the
substance of an interview is completely recorded in an Examiners Amendment, no separate Interview Summary Record is required.

The Interview Summary Form shall be given an appropriate Paper No., placed in the right hand portion of the file, and listed on the
"Contents" section of the file wrapper. In a personal interview, a duplicate of the Form is given to the applicant (or attorney or agent) at the
conclusion of the interview. In the case of a telephone or video-conference interview, the copy is mailed to the applicant's correspondence address
either with or prior to the next official communication. If additional correspondence from the examiner is not likely before an allowance or if other
circumstances dictate, the Form should be mailed promptly after the interview rather than with the next official communication.

The Form provides for recordation of the following information:

- Application Number (Series Code and Serial Number)

- Name of applicant

- Name of examiner

- Date of interview

- Type of interview (telephonic, video-conference, or personal)

- Name of participant(s) (applicant, attorney or agent, examiner, other PTO personnel, etc.)

- An indication whether or not an exhibit was shown or a demonstration conducted

- An identification of the specific prior art discussed

- An indication whether an agreement was reached and if so, a description of the general nature of the agreement (may be by
attachment of a copy of amendments or claims agreed as being allowable). Note: Agreement as to allowability is tentative and does
not restrict further action by the examiner to the contrary.

- The signature of the examiner who conducted the interview (if Form is not an attachment to a signed Office action)

It is desirable that the examiner orally remind the applicant of his or her obligation to record the substance of the interview of each case. It
should be noted, however, that the Interview Summary Form will not normally be considered a complete and proper recordation of the interview
unless it includes, or is supplemented by the applicant or the examiner to include, all of the applicable items required below concerning the
substance of the interview.

A complete and proper recordation of the substance of any interview should include at least the following applicable items:

1) A brief description of the nature of any exhibit shown or any demonstration conducted,

2) an identification of the claims discussed,

3) an identification of the specific prior art discussed,

4) an identification of the principal proposed amendments of a substantive nature discussed, unless these are already described on the
Interview Summary Form completed by the Examiner,

5) a brief identification of the general thrust of the principal arguments presented to the examiner,

(The identification of arguments need not be lengthy or elaborate. A verbatim or highly detailed description of the arguments is not
required. The identification of the arguments is sufficient if the general nature or thrust of the principal arguments made to the
examiner can be understood in the context of the application file. Of course, the applicant may desire to emphasize and fully
describe those arguments which he or she feels were or might be persuasive to the examiner.)

6) a general indication of any other pertinent matters discussed, and

7) if appropriate, the general results or outcome of the interview unless already described in the Interview Summary Form completed by
the examiner.

Examiners are expected to carefully review the applicant's record of the substance of an interview. If the record is not complete and
accurate, the examiner will give the applicant an extendable one month time period to correct the record.

Examiner to Check for Accuracy

If the claims are allowable for other reasons of record, the examiner should send a letter setting forth the examiner's version of the
statement attributed to him or her. If the record is complete and accurate, the examiner should place the indication, "Interview Record OK" on the
paper recording the substance of the interview along with the date and the examiner's initials.

2